USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > The story of Newton, Massachusetts : its natural beauty, attractive homes and historical associations > Part 2
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To quiet the rivalry of the two villages for the possession of the Town Hall, town-meetings were sometimes held alternately at Newton Centre and West Newton.
Washington Street was the dividing line between the north and south sides of the town. According to the record there were no houses along the south side of Washington Street from the West Newton
*Each town was obliged to have its stocks, and in 1639 Dedham was fined for not having a pair. Burglary and some other crimes were punished in all the colonies by branding.
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Library of the Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre. Andover Newton is an affiliation of the old Andover Seminary, established in 1808 at Andover, and the Newton Theological Institution, established in Newton in 1825. In 1908, the Andover Seminary was moved to Cambridge and affiliated with the Harvard Divinity School. In 1925, this affiliation was dis- solved by the Supreme Court, and in 1931, Andover was given permission to re-establish itself in Newton. This has resulted in a larger Faculty and student body made up of several denom- inations. This also made possible the erection of new buildings and the improvement of the present equipment. The buildings of the school occupy 43 acres on Institution Hill.
The site was considered the most desirable in the vicinity of Boston, and a former owner as early as 1798 planned what was to be the finest residence in all the region, and what is now Institution Avenue was the stately approach to it. The house was built and the grounds adorned, but the owner's wealth was dissipated in the process, and the house and 85 acres of land were purchased by the Baptist organization for $4,250.
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line to Centre Street, Newton, before 1810. Those that were built there later were removed in the widening of Washington Street in 1896.
In early Colonial days churches were called meeting- houses, for they served both religious and civic gatherings. Town-Meetings were held in them, and attendance at regular monthly meetings entitled voters to a free dinner. Absentees, besides missing their dinner, were fined a measure of wine. Such were the old-time days.
And the "Code" of our time was tried out in those early days in as thoroughgoing a manner as in our own regimented era. In 1640 the General Court of Massachusetts set the value of Indian corn at four shillings a bushel, that of rye at five shillings, and that of wheat at six. Virginia anticipated the crop regulation of our time by attempting to limit the production of tobacco, and failing this, was forced to buy up and burn an unusually heavy crop in order that the surplus might not depress prices unduly.
Throughout the Colonial period Newton profitably adapted itself to the varying conditions of soil and industry. None were very rich and few were very poor ; slums and breadlines were not yet in evidence. Even in industrial sections ownership of one's home was generally the rule.
As the 19th century drew near, Newton's expand- ing industries raised a hope that the town might become a manufacturing center. Even the smaller streams were explored for possible water power. There was a mill on Smelt, or Laundry Brook at the outlet of Bullough's Pond, and another on Judge Fuller's place on Claflin Field, near Hull Street. There was a gristmill on General Michael Jackson's
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House on Dane Hill Road. Newton. Countryside Development, Newton Highlands.
Young Men's Christian Association Building, Church Street, Newton.
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MYRTYM
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Native Stone House, Oak Hill Village.
Oak Hill comprises the most southern part of Newton where 200 acres of rolling hills, wooded slopes, and sunlit spaces, have lent themselves to a carefully restricted development.
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Homestead of Samuel F. Smith. Author of the hymn "America." Located corner Centre Street and Tyler Terrace, Newton Centre.
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The Peabody Home for Crippled Children, Brookline and Dedham Streets, Oak Hill, Newton Centre.
The work of the Home is to give destitute and crippled children a real home, surgical care and sun treatment. The Home occupies the sightly and sunny side of Oak Hill with 40 acres of pic- turesque grounds which reach an elevation of 296 feet.
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Boulder Farm, Oak Hill District, Newton
This beautiful country estate was acquired by Robert Gould Shaw II in 1909, and the stately dwelling shown above was built by him at that time to replace the original manor house known as Holbrook Hall. The estate was originally owned by William S. Appleton, a brother-in-law of the poet Longfellow, who was probably an occasional visitor at the Hall and thus in a way is associated with Newton.
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place near Washington Street, and later on, a choco- late mill and other mills. At a spot a few rods before the stream falls into the river in Watertown, there was the ancient gristmill of the Cookes, a mill which remained in their family for three generations.
This seems like a large order for the slender brook as we know it, but it ran fuller in the early days, as did most New England streams. The hillsides along its course were heavily wooded and conserved much of the water that supplied the stream, while the bogs and swamps acted as dependable reservoirs. When General Hull, who had married Judge Fuller's daughter, Sarah, owned the farm through which the brook flowed, he attempted to use a substantial part of the water for irrigation purposes. However, one of the millers farther down the stream sued the Gen- eral for diverting the water. General Hull, in de- fense, maintained that agriculture was more important than a mill, but the Court decided in favor of the miller, and the brook continued to flow in its original channel.
A diversion of the waters of the Charles River by the Town of Dedham threatened more serious conse- quences to Newton mill owners. About half a mile above Dedham village, the early settlers of that town cut a canal from the river and diverted a portion of its water into the Neponset, which has a lower channel than the Charles. The canal was widened, as the years went by, to serve several water powers along its course, but nothing was definitely done to check this loss until 1807, when the diversion of the water threatened seriously to lessen the water power of the Newton and Waltham mills. After much litigation a compromise was reached, allowing Dedham
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Courtesy of the Boston Herald.
The Mother Brook Canal, leading from the Charles River in Dedham.
to draw off one-third of the water. It is now possible for the canoeist to start from Boston Harbor, paddle up the Charles to the canal known as Mother Brook just above Dedham, guide his canoe into the Neponset River and thence to the harbor again - a circuit of about 70 miles.
Newton was not only losing its water power, but a large slice of its territory was to be taken away. In 1838 the southern corner of the town, containing 1,800 acres, was set off to Roxbury. This area in- cluded the famous Brook Farm Acres where, three years later, a great adventure in social co-operation was begun. (See map.)
Again, in 1848, an act of the Legislature ceding 640 acres to Waltham took from Newton all of the present Waltham territory on the south side of the Charles River, with all of its industrial possibilities. Newton's real destiny was to be in another direction, as we shall soon see.
There is little in the record of the early settlers to reveal to us what they had in mind regarding the
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One of a group of Modern Homes on Stony Brae Estates, Newton Highlands.
A home in an older section of Newton, showing how years of careful attention to trees and grounds can give the house an ideal setting even if the lot is small as in this case.
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future of the community they were founding. We may be sure that among them were men of vision, whose purposes and ideals have been kept alive and steadily advanced, under the leadership of those who have followed them. The good works of our genera- tion reflected in the higher fields of education and social improvement, together with corresponding material progress, are attainments conceivably in line with those foreshadowed by the founders of our city.
The Modern Era
For the 200 years following its settlement the town developed normally, free from booms or panics. Agriculture and manufacturing combined to give a well-balanced growth - a growth which continued until a situation arose that started Newton upon an entirely different development. It became a suburb!
As early as 1830 practically all of the solid ground in Boston had been occupied. The filling in of the Back Bay and South End had but scarcely begun, and residential Boston had to overflow into the neighboring towns. Nearby suburbs, such as Cam- bridge, Charlestown, and Dorchester, were the first to receive this overflow, but the opening of the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1833 made more distant places equally accessible, and it was then that Newton started upon its career as a residential suburb. The revolution in transportation was thus to be of the greatest consequence to Newton.
One hundred years ago travel was still by stage coach, and along the main routes a string of taverns beguiled the hungry and thirsty passengers of the
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thirty stages which rattled through Newton daily. Taverns offered hospitality at the entrance to the town, at Newton Lower Falls and Upper Falls, at West Newton, and at Newton, where the Nonantum House was the largest of these inns and the last to go
The Boston and Albany Railroad, which was to change all this, was originally laid out, not through Newton, but through Watertown, Waltham, and Weston, as recommended by a State Commission. The Old Post Road with its heavy traffic was on the north side of the river, and the towns there objected to the proposed railroad through their territory, fearing that it would injure business over the estab- lished roads.
At this point Hon. William Jackson of Newton comes into the picture. A student of transportation with a vision of the possibilities of railroad expansion, he labored with the Commissioners to have the road built through Newton. As the outcome of his labors, the first section of the "Boston and Worcester Rail- road" was laid as far as Newton Corner and opened to travel on April 16, 1833.
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The Suburban Period
The natural advantages of this section were appeal- ing to the newly awakened trend toward suburban life. With a terrain of 11,000 acres of alternating hills and dales, lakes and river, building sites were offered to suit every taste and any degree of expenditure. Old-time farms gave way to the smooth lawns and shrubbery of well-groomed private estates.
In our day the opening of a new railroad section would be followed by a feverish rush to develop the neighboring land. William Jackson showed no such haste. He prudently waited until Newton had a special train service. His holdings included Waban Park, which he laid out in lots ten years after the opening of the railroad. His land was the first in Newton to be sold by the foot (about 1844).
Fifty years later, the city faced another railroad problem - the proposed relocation of the railroad tracks through Newton. We owe the depression of the Boston and Albany Railroad tracks and elimi- nation of grade crossings in Newton, to a plan carried out during the administration of Mayor Henry E. Bothfeld. This fortunately ended consideration of a plan for elevating the tracks, with which the city had been threatened.
At first, large estates were the rule, but their sub- division has gone on at a rapid rate, and there are left only a few residential groups where the holdings have been kept by descendants of the original owners. The Saltonstalls and Lees on Chestnut Hill, and the Lowell Estates near by, still retain most of the original acres in family holdings.
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Brae Burn Country Club House on Fuller Street, Waban. Overlooking an 18-hole golf course and an additional 9-hole course.
1987595
Charles River Country Club House on Dedham Street, Oak Hill section. The grounds are quite extensive, reaching from Dedham Street to the Charles River.
Every golfer knows that three things, at least, are necessary in a satisfactory golf course - good turf, variety, and picturesqueness. Both the above courses possess all these. The club houses are modern with locker rooms, ample dining service, lounges, attractive furnishings and all that goes with a first class Country Club.
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The largest private estate in Newton is the Apple- ton place, now the property of the Robert Gould Shaw II heirs and known as Boulder Farm. It com- prises 264 acres off Dedham Street in the Oak Hill District, and is bordered in part by the Charles River Country Club.
Newton was fast becoming the "Garden City of the Commonwealth." Its eleven New England villages* were centers of strong local interest and social life, but with a common and active interest in the civic affairs of the city at large, for the town became a city in 1873.
In its transformation into a suburban community, Newton readily absorbed the newcomers, assimilat- ing the good in them, while retaining all the old community virtues of its own. In becoming a city it continued the non-partisan political life of the town, and if issues arose, they were free from party strife.
The acquisition of the twenty-five acres comprising Claflin Field in Newtonville, illustrates how impar- tially the different sections of the city worked to- gether for a common good. The site is one of much historic interest as the homestead successively of Judge Abraham Fuller, General William Hull, and Governor William Claflin. Governor Claflin utilized the site of the old house for the larger and more modern mansion, the "Old Elms" shown in the cut. For nearly fifty years the hospitality of the Governor attracted interesting and prominent people from far and near, making the "Old Elms" one of the best known homes in the Commonwealth. In 1908 the property was purchased from the Claflin Estate and
*Newton, Newtonville, Nonantum, West Newton, Auburndale, Waban, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newton Highlands, Newton Centre, and Chestnut Hill.
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The Old Elms The Governor Claflin Homestead on Walnut Street, Newtonville; Its site is now occupied by the group of High School buildings shown in another cut.
Between Classes The well used High School Grounds, once a part of the Governor Claflin Estate.
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given to the City of Newton as a civic center, through the contributions of a large number of public-spirited citizens. A group of modern High School buildings, with an enrollment of 2,450 students, now occupies this site, in an environment and atmosphere most favorable to educational progress. It is a far cry from these elaborate school buildings to the plain school- house, 16 x 14, in which John Staples started the Newton School System in 1700, at a salary of two shillings per day, four days in a week.
Educational Landmarks
Newton is associated with important pioneer work in the field of higher education. Horace Mann was a resident of West Newton when he was secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. During that time he was writing those famous reports that did so much to elevate the standard of school instruction. Through his tireless efforts, the first permanent Nor- mal School building for women in the world (orig- inally started in leased quarters in Lexington), was opened in West Newton, on the site of the present Unitarian Church. When the school was moved to Framingham in 1853, the building became the Allen School, which for fifty years made West Newton again an educational center. Under Nathaniel T. Allen and his successors more than 4,000 students from our own and other countries had the cultural advantages of this exceptional school.
When Horace Mann removed from West Newton, his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Hawthorne, moved into his house at the corner of Highland and Chestnut Streets, occupying it for nearly a year. Some twenty
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Claflin Field and High School Buildings from the air. The Oval at the right is the Dickinson Stadium, while in the corner of the field is the Base Ball Diamond. The remainder of the field is devoted to various athletics.
18888388 %
The High School Group from the Girls' Athletic Field.
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years earlier, 1833, Ralph Waldo Emerson came with his mother to live in a quiet old farmhouse on what is now No. 227 Woodward Street, near the Upper Falls.
How quiet and secluded this place was 100 years ago, we can imagine from what Emerson wrote to a friend : "Why do you not come out here, and see the pines and the hermit? It is calm as eternity and will give you lively ideas of the same. 'Tis deep Sunday in this woodcocks' nest of ours from one end of the week to the other." In recognition of its distinguished resident, Newton Upper Falls now has the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson given to its latest school building.
While mentioning literary celebrities associated with Newton, we might recall the fact, doubtless re- membered by some of our residents, that "The Old Elms," the hospitable home of Governor Claflin in Newtonville, attracted many prominent people of that time, among them John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Presi- dent Hayes, Chief Justice Chase, and other notables.
Celia Thaxter was the center of another literary group, which met frequently at her home, at the corner of Nevada and California Streets, Newtonville. The barn in which the meetings were held is still standing, and here, in the early seventies, her husband, Levi Lincoln Thaxter, one of Browning's earliest inter- preters, gathered around him a group of enthusiasts who helped to introduce the poet to a wider circle of American readers.
The first Public Library in Newton was organized in West Newton in 1798 under the somewhat com- prehensive name of "The Social Library Society in
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The Fessenden School with its extensive athletic field stands on a hill above the Albemarle Golf Course in West Newton. Since 1903 it has prepared young boys for the leading secondary schools.
Canoe Races at Lasell Junior College: Winning Crew just crossing the line to set a new record
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Happy Hours for the Children on Hot Days.
Youngsters Who Have Qualified for the Diving Float.
The Municipal Bathing Beach at Crystal Lake, Newton Centre.
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No Instruction Needed for Doing This.
Shade and Sunshine at Will.
Two of Newton's Twenty-seven Supervised Playgrounds.
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the West Parish in Newton." No chances were taken in the matter of librarian, who was required "to be possessed in his own right of an estate at least double the value of all the books which the Library may contain." The germ of the Newton Free Library of today was the Newton Book Club formed in 1848. Twenty years later this became the Newton Free Library, and in 1876 it was deeded to the City.
Early Churches
As in all other Puritan settlements, the communal life of Newton started with the church. The first church was built in 1660 near the Old Cemetery, corner of Centre and Cotton Streets, on a lot donated by John Jackson, the first settler. A marble monu- ment stands on the spot where the first meeting- house was erected. The location, though somewhat remote from a village, had the advantage of being on the main road through the town. The church and cemetery were on the same lot, as in English parishes. Forty years later, in 1700, the first school- house in Newton was erected on an adjoining lot.
As a rule the early villages centered around the church and a religious atmosphere seems to have persisted in the numerous churches and many de- nominations of our day.
A wise liberality towards the religious opinions of others has always been characteristic of Newton citizens from the earliest times, and has kept them free from the intolerance and bigotry of some of the Bay Colony towns. In the Colonial period Newton was practically untouched by the witchcraft delusion,
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St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Newton Lower Falls. A good example of the late Colonial style.
and, except under compulsion of the General Court, was tolerant of Quakers and other persecuted sects.
At the present time (1935) there are forty-five churches in Newton, representing eight denomina- tions. Yet as late as 1825 there were only three sects in Newton : Congregational, Baptist, and Epis- copal.
One early church, the century-old St. Mary's Episcopalian of Newton Lower Falls, with its square columns and high box pews, remains unchanged in its Colonial simplicity.
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The Old Weston Bridge Where It Crosses the Charles River at Norumbega Park. When the road was widened to accommodate automobile traffic, the old bridg was taken down, and a larger but less picturesque structure took its place
Norumbega Park.
Its 21 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, overlook one of the most attractive parts of the river. The above cut of the Restaurant gives an idea of the good taste that pervades every part of the grounds, and extends to the recreations and entertainments offered.
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Some Old Homesteads
The Jackson Homestead on Washington Street, an old-time structure built in 1809, well preserved and still occupied, bids fair to double its age and remain for an indefinite time typical of a style that seems to baffle imitation.
The Woodman or Hammond House, on the corner of Beacon and Hammond Streets, soon starts its fourth century. The Woodward House on Wood- ward Street is nearly as old. For 250 years it has remained in the possession of a single family and name .* Many other old Newton houses have been restored and occupied, their new owners doubtless having in mind that "the goal of all restoration is to have appearance old and usefulness modern."
Among these old homesteads are the Baury House at Lower Falls, adjoining St. Mary's Episcopal Church, now the home of the Lucy Jackson Chapter of the D. A. R., and the Wilkie House on Mill Street, adapted from the old miller's house at the outlet of Bullough's Pond. The Kenrick House at 286 Waverley Avenue, was built in 1732 by Edward Durant, and is known as the Durant-Kenrick House. It is unusual in having nine fireplaces, which must have been severe on the wood pile. The house is well preserved and cared for by its owner, Professor A. S. Dewing, a descendant of the builder of the house and also of John Jackson the first permanent settler in Newton.
Newton's growth in homes is reflected in the shifting
*The Woodward family has furnished many prominent leaders in church and civic circles, and kept up the old-time atmosphere and traditions of the family homestead.
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of real estate values. In 1800, houses were 21 per cent and land 79 per cent of the assessed values. In 1935 all taxable buildings were 70 per cent and land 30 per cent of total values. Newton's building ex- pansion has been greatly helped by fixed zoning areas and reasonable building restrictions. A Planning Board passes upon all proposed street layouts, while the street and water commissioners co-operate in the matter of sewer and water connections.
The appeal of the outdoors is met in Newton by its 517 acres of parks, playgrounds, and other reserva- tions. A great part of its river front is an extension of the far-famed Metropolitan Park System. These features are supplemented by the generous acres of five golf clubs, comprising eight per cent of the taxable land in the city. With the parks they give a maximum of open spaces. Two hundred and sixty- one miles of streets make accessible the city's present homes and those that are to be.
Apart from its material advantages, Newton has an educational life, expressed in schools and libraries and many literary clubs. A high standard of civic responsibility has been aroused through Village Improvement Associations and kindred organizations.
Politically, the city's affairs are managed by quali- fied officials representing an unusually interested and intelligent electorate.
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City Hall
Located in the geographical center of the city Newton's City Hall, one of the latest additions to the Commonwealth's municipal buildings, is an attempt to combine practical utility with architec- tural excellence. Its beauty of design is matched by the fitness of its interior, adapting it perfectly to municipal uses. Apart from its features as a City Hall, the civic character of this building is further emphasized by an extension containing a Soldiers' War Memorial Building, all in a park-like setting of
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Newton City Hall From Residence of Charles C. Balcom, 19 Estabrook Road, West Newton
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ten acres. The whole ensemble expresses beauty and fitness without extravagant expenditure. A good idea of its appearance can be had from the cut on the front cover, made from a drawing by the architects, Allen, Collens, and Willis, of Boston. It was dedi- cated November 11, 1932.
Newton's population has had an orderly growth and has now reached approximately 70,000. The city has no ambition to add mere numbers. Rather would it enrich its present stock by residents drawn here through similarity of tastes and standards.
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